Social Login — Complete OAuth Social Authentication Guide

In this tutorial, you will learn about Social Login. We cover key concepts, practical examples, and best practices to help you master this topic.

Social login allows users to sign in using their existing accounts from providers like Google, GitHub, Facebook, and Apple. It uses OAuth 2.0 and Openid Connect under the hood.

What You'll Learn

You'll learn how to integrate social login providers, handle provider-specific differences, and manage linking multiple social accounts.

Why It Matters

Social login reduces friction, increases sign-up conversion by up to 50%, and leverages the provider's security infrastructure including MFA and account recovery.

Real-World Use

A developer tool supports login with GitHub. Developers click "Sign in with GitHub," grant permission to read their email and username, and are authenticated without creating a new account.

Implementation

from authlib.integrations.flask_client import OAuth

oauth = OAuth()

oauth.register(
    name="github",
    client_id="your-github-client-id",
    client_secret="your-github-client-secret",
    access_token_url="https://github.com/login/oauth/access_token",
    authorize_url="https://github.com/login/oauth/authorize",
    client_kwargs={"scope": "user:email"}
)

oauth.register(
    name="google",
    client_id="your-google-client-id",
    client_secret="your-google-client-secret",
    server_metadata_url="https://accounts.google.com/.well-known/openid-configuration",
    client_kwargs={"scope": "openid email profile"}
)

@app.route("/login/<provider>")
def social_login(provider):
    redirect_uri = url_for("authorize", provider=provider, _external=True)
    return oauth.create_client(provider).authorize_redirect(redirect_uri)

Common Mistakes

What's Next

Learn about LDAP integration for enterprise directory authentication.